The invention relates to a multicolor rotary screen printing machine comprising a number of parallel cylinder stencils which are located in a common plane and which are each provided, on the inside, with a squeegee consisting of a hollow tube with a squeegee blade, wherein the ends of each squeegee projecting outside the stencil are suspended from one end of two arms which have their other end attached, in a hinging manner, to a supporting part connected to the frame of the machine.
Such a device is known from the Applicant's Netherlands Patent Application 6 910 509, laid open for inspection. The supporting part is a gallows attached to a bridge located transversely above the web to be printed. An arm in the form of a pneumatic or hydraulic unit extends vertically downwards from the horizontal member of the gallows. Another arm extends downwards from the vertical member approximately in the direction of the end of the first arm. Where these arms meet each other they are attached to a squeegee holder which is firmly attached to the end of a squeegee.
It is desired to be able to change the position of the squeegee inside the stencil. The correct position of the squeegee depends on various factors, such as the type of squeegee (squeegee with fixed squeegee blade, squeegee with squeegee blade applied by means of a pneumatic bellows, squeegee for foamed printing paste), possibly the depth of the squeegee blade, the pressure with which the squeegee (or its squeegee blade) is applied against the stencil, the angle of the squeegee blade with respect to the stencil. It is also desirable in operation to be able to alter the position of the squeegee in the stencil.
It is possible to alter only the length of the first arm during operation of the existing device, since this consists of a piston/cylinder unit; the other arm may be adjusted only by means of a screw thread. This means that only manual adjustment is possible and the adjustment cannot be automated.
The invention aims, on the one hand, to provide a squeegee suspension of a type such that the position of the squeegee and of the variables dependent thereon may be varied over a wide area and, on the other hand, to provide a squeegee suspension which makes it possible to automate the adjustment of the position of the squeegee.